Honking seem to be a must in India for following reasons, here i am not talking
about honking done for some sort of entertainment or fun.

1. Because of huge population of pedestrian walking on road and not footpath, it
becomes a must, which is not the case else were in the world. (Why they walk on
road is another reason because, footpaths r not wide enough, not maintain with
good tiling, proper level not maintained, encroached by hawkers and shopkeepers,
trees, bus stops, sky walk pillars, beggar etc.

2. Pedestrian walking on road, have no road sense and often r walking while
talking on mobile, r day dreamers and suddenly would cross the road wherever
they please

3. pedestrian, often in a group while walking on road almost covering a larger
portion of the road and when a alert is raised by honking, each one would start
moving in different direction, thus inviting a accident. Motorist have to create
a advance alert by honking on see such group who most often busy in deep
conversation or seeing a lone day dreamers.

4. to create a alert on seeing a rash driver often youngsters.

5. At signal crossing where even though it is green signal for motorist to pass
but pedestrian  still try to cross.We have no laws to punish pedestrian or
cyclist when he breaks law.

6. seeing a cyclist riding in a zigzag way. we do not have separate track on
road for cyclists.

it is better to honk, rather than to meet with an accident in a country with a
very huge population walks on road and where self discipline is almost absent.

rgds,

Jitendra Gupta
9819235160

Heartiest COngrats!!!
Really good work in terms of stray as pets.
It would be good idea, if we can have some appealing promotional message on FM
radios across different cities or have celebrity or common man speak about it.
But then at the same time, there should be awareness to stop abandoning the pets
and its impact on pets life and mind...poor soul..that is also a big

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 09, Dated 03 Mar 2012

CURRENT AFFAIRS  WHAT ON EARTH

Creating Happiness? Certainly Not in Puri

Its mega university project stuck in the court, Vedanta withdraws free
education to 500 children of project-affected families.

Short-lived joy The children were studying at DAV Public School, Puri

ON 30 JANUARY, Vedanta released its maiden national corporate publicity
campaign - Creating Happiness, a 90-second film created by Ogilvy & Mather -
across television channels. Binno, a little girl from rural Rajasthan and
the face of the campaign, has already endeared herself to millions. The
campaign also features 38 short films made by students of Film and
Television Institute of India, Indian Institute of Mass Communication and
other institutes, shortlisted by a jury including Shyam Benegal and Gul
Panag. (At the time of going to press, Benegal told an activist that he was
not on the jury anymore).
Understandably, thousands of victims of Vedanta's environmental and human
rights abuse see little endearing in Binno's smile. Now among them are 500
children from Odisha's Puri district who belong to families affected by the
Vedanta University Project (VUP). On 10 February, they suddenly became
dispensable liabilities in the MNC's mega scheme of things.
The campaign with a media budget of more than Rs 100 crore, to quote O&M
executive chairman Piyush Pandey, is "all about enabling India" and "looks
forward to the people of India not just appreciating Vedanta efforts, but
getting inspired to do something on their own to make India a happier
  place." With that lofty goal, Vedanta's communications and brand director
Senjam Raj Sekhar told the media that the MNC "opened up all its projects
and locations to budding independent filmmakers".

But Vedanta kept at least one location under wraps. Only two of the 38 films
in the competition feature Odisha. And neither tells the Vedanta story in
Puri where the MNC began sponsoring the education of 500 children in the
prestigious DAV Public School four years ago.

GADADHAR TRIPATHI from Chandanpur, Puri district, was among thousands of
villagers approached by Vedanta for their land. In June 2006, Vedanta
Resources Ltd had sought 15,000 acres from the Odisha government for setting
up a university near Puri. A month on, the government signed an MOU with
Vedanta Foundation (formerly Sterlite Foundation) for the project.

"The company took 6,000 acres of agricultural land from us. We were told
that our children would get good education for free. We were also promised
quality healthcare and jobs. It even promised to build good schools in our
villages. We were happy," says Tripathi.

In 2008, VUP signed a 30-year MOU with DAV to provide education for 500
children from the project-affected families up to Class X.The project
website - vedanta.edu.in - reads: In an honest attempt at forging a
partnership for providing quality education to the largely deprived children
of the rural areas, the VUP of Anil Agarwal Foundation has been supporting
the children belonging to the project impacted village for admission into
DAV Public School, Puri.

'Our monthly income is Rs 3,000. How can we spend Rs 1,000- Rs 2,000 for a
kid's schooling?' asks a farmer

The students are being imparted free education and are being provided with
free transportation facilities, reading & writing material, uniforms & bags
and nutritious mid-day meals.

A Vedanta press release of 19 August 2009 claimed that 414 students had been
enrolled under the scheme.

"We admitted around 500 students by 2010-11," says DAV Schools regional
director Himansu Mohanty. "The company was paying for their fees, textbooks,
uniforms, meals, etc. They also bought four buses and paid the running cost.
Since many of these students were first-generation learners, they were not
ready for English medium. So we created an Odia section within our premises
where 350 of them were studying. Vedanta promised us three acres and a
10,000 sq ft building for this Odia medium school by 2012." Instead, Vedanta
dropped a bombshell on Mohanty in July 2011.

THE LAW Department of the Odisha government had raised objections soon after
the MOU was signed in 2006. So the Vedanta Foundation changed its private
company status and became Anil Agarwal Foundation, claiming to be a public
company, and signed a fresh MOU with the state government in 2007. But the
Registrar of Companies, Maharashtra, in 2008, called its bluff.

Bleak future Vikash Barik is one of the students who will lose his free
education

Gopabandhu Daridranarayan Seva Sangha, a Puri organisation, and others moved
the Orissa HC in 2008 challenging the land acquisition for VUP. Among other
objections, the petitioners pointed out that the government would have no
control over the functioning of the proposed university and its fees
structure, and that the quantum of land sought far exceeded the purpose of
setting up a university.
In November 2010, the HC rapped Vedanta for "misrepresenting facts and
playing fraud on the government". It also noted that two rivers flowed
through the acquired land, which was also in the vicinity of a wildlife
sanctuary. The ruling was simple: "Lands shall be restored to the respective
land owners irrespective of .whether they had challenged the acquisition of
their lands or not".

Vedanta moved the Supreme Court against the judgment and the appeal is still
being heard. But the MNC, it seems, has given up hope and its university
project. It has virtually shut down its once buzzing Puri office. Even the
project website has not been updated since April 2010. Its own project in
jeopardy, a deeply unhappy Vedanta Resources Ltd saw no reason to keep Puri's
500 children happy.

BUT FOR his thoughtfulness, says Mohanty, the Vedanta-sponsored students'
dreams would have ended seven months ago: "It was in July 2011 that Vedanta
intimated us that they would not be supporting these students beyond 31
March 2012. I did not break the news to the children because it would
demoralise them. As the new educational year is drawing close, I had to
issue the circular last week."

According to the circular, students will now have to pay for everything -
except for school fees which, thanks to Mohanty, the DAV Trust has waived
for now. From textbooks to uniforms to school bus, the new arrangement will
cost each student more than 1,000 a month. "We are all farmers. Our monthly
income is Rs 3,000-Rs 4,000. How can we spend Rs 1,000-Rs 2,000 for a child's
schooling?" asks Tripathi, whose son Prabhakar is in Class III.

Purno Ranjan Swain, from Podi village in Puri district, gave four acres to
Vedanta and now runs a small shop. His son Aryan is in Class III, studying
English medium. With a monthly income of less than Rs 3,500, he sees no
future for his son at the DAV Public School. "Almost all these kids will
have to leave the big school now," he says.

To apparently smoothen that exit, Vedanta, the DAV circular says, will
provide each student "a one-time assistance of Rs 2,000 to facilitate the
transition". For those who manage to stay on, the DAV Oriya medium school
will now be limited to Class VIII. "I know the promise was of education till
Class X. But Vedanta has not given us the land meant for the Oriya school
without which the school will not be acknowledged and our students will not
be allowed to take the board examination anyway," explains Mohanty.

Puri District Collector Arvind Agarwal says he is yet to look into the
matter: "The company has never informed me about the decision to discontinue
their education programme. Perhaps they consider the scheme as part of their
university project that has not taken off yet."

The district administration had coordinated with Vedanta for its university
project-related corporate social responsibility activities in 2007-08.

Jayant Das, president of the Orissa Bar Association and counsel for the
petitioner in the HC case, says the MNC has no justification for linking the
fate of a particular project to its commitment to social welfare.

"It is not the fault of those children that Vedanta's lies were nailed by
the HC. How could they put some children in a school that is beyond their
means and then just abandon them?" questions Das. "With this decision,
Vedanta has revealed that social welfare for the company is only a tool to
lure and mislead people."

Contacted by TEHELKA, Vedanta's Raj Sekhar denied that the MNC had "anything
to do with DAV in Puri" before promising to "get back after checking the
facts". But of course, he did not, not in the middle of an ad blitz.

Meanwhile, little Binno continues to spread happiness on television.

Jay Mazoomdaar is an Independent Journalist.
jaymazoomdaar@...

Gain is ultimately gain to the Consumers as they dont have to bear the cost of power lost. Power lost due to theft is not surplus available to consumers. It is lost and not saved. The real gain is in the efficiency in transmission and distribution and finding ways and means to conserve power during slack hours. Again let us not be carried awat by the statics of gain in revenue. It is the result in many cases by metering. There is a spate of increase in bills due to faultyy meters. If the Journalist reporting stories based on press releases goes a little deep in customer complaints of BEST he will realise that it can be attributed to a particular brand of electronic meters. Delhi too had the experience. The bipolar metering measures even reverse current due to improper undedicated Neutral connections. Let us not be fooled by dubious claims.
The real gain will be if we devise ways and means to even out demand. I don't  know if anything is done in this regard.
Giving free unregulated power to Farmers is counter productive. It is one single factor to reduce Ground water level apart from other misuses. To startwith it has to be given only on non peak period and with a cap. Even this may be staggered.
If the statistics are given in meaningful manner the gains will be realistic.
Another suggestion is age old Hungarian Kando system to be deployed. Stop free Power to farmers for water. Store water during slack period directly by the Power supplier and give it to Farmers as and when required. I hardly see our fellow engineers doing anything except white lies.
With due regards and apologies to well meaning stalwart RTI activists and my fellow engineers and consumer Activists.
Ratanlal Purohit
Electrical & Industrial Engineer & Consumer Activist

My congratulations to Karmayog for posting the well written report by Ms Swati Deshpande of Times on Rise and Fall of  Singh and sons. For Singh it is not the first slap. His KODA connection and wth a DuBaious connected Reality had  costed him a Parliament Seat. But will Ms Swati find out why he was made Chief of City Congress. SURELY he has many other rotten eggs in the basket. Former CMs now in the Centre close to the seat of Power. When will the bell toll for the chain? Let our friends in fourth state be also proactive as a poor brave Activist our hero Mr. Tiwari.
Ratanlal Purohit

It is high time for election reform to cut down collosall waste of National assets. To start with a winning candidate should atleast get 50+% votes polled. State should fund the candidate. Deposit should be twice the fund. This will prevent just for fun candidates and the winning candidate too be truly representative. Voting should be compulsary. Excuses should be filed in advance. No AWOL.
Ratanlal Purohit

Eco-friendly boxes made by people with special needs are cute and can
be used to gift biscuits and chocolates. Call Shraddha Charitable
Trust in Mumbai on 9820904079.
------------------------------------------------------------------

Sub.: gift boxes needed from NGOs

I was just going through your website.Actually we are looking for some
items  like gift boxes to be ordered from NGO so we are looking some
of them .

I am from New delhi and working in a Hotel .

Can you help me with this and give me some information like number or
mail Id of some NGOs who can fulfill my requirement and I can contact
them .

I will be highly grateful to you.


Thanks
Vinita
Vinita Balyan <Vinita.Balyan@...>